Historic Places in Highland

Skelbo Castle is located on the mouth of Loch Fleet in the Highlands of Scotland. The castle is an early Norman fortress of the motte and bailey type, with keep and courtyard wall dating from around the 14th century. The castle stands at the northern corner of a triangular walled enclosure. The wall is best preserved at the northern side of the castle. There is also a building in the south west corner of the enclosure which still stands two storeys high, and has about a third of the roof left. This building in the south west corner and some of the curtain wall dates from the 17th century. Fragments of wall can be seen in several other places and the site is strewn with rubble. In 1529 the castle was bought by William Sutherland of Duffus. Skelbo was occupied by Jacobites during the first half of the 18th century. After the defeat of the Jacobites in 1715, Skelbo was forfeited to the crown. In 1745 the Earl of Cromarty and his Jacobite army occupied Skelbo Castle again before moving on to Dunrobin where they captured and briefly held Dunrobin castle. By 1769 the Castle was in ruins. The baronial title of Skelbo reverted to the Countess of Sutherland in 1804.

The Castle of Mey (formerly known as Barrogill Castle) is situated in Caithness on the north coast of Scotland. It is about six miles west of John o' Groats. In clear weather there are views north to the Orkney Islands. The castle was purchased by Queen Elizabeth The Queen Mother in 1952. She restored the castle for use as a holiday home and regularly visited it from 1955 until her death in 2002. In July 1996 The Queen Mother transferred ownership of the property to the Queen Elizabeth Castle of Mey Trust. The castle and garden is now open to the public as a popular tourist attraction. A new Visitors Centre was opened in 2007. Legends The castle is reputedly haunted by The Green Lady, ghost of Elizabeth Sinclair, the daughter of the 5th Earl of Caithness. Apparently, the Earl was not impressed when he found out his daughter had fallen in love with a servant, and locked here up in a castle attic. The heartbroken Elizabeth committed suicide by jumping from a castle window.

Skibo Castle, located in Sutherland, Scotland, has origins dating back to the 9th–12th centuries and became world-famous under Andrew Carnegie in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Early History Skibo Castle’s earliest records date to a charter from 1211, though the site may have been fortified as early as the 9th or 10th century. Originally, it served as a residence for the Bishops of Caithness, remaining under ecclesiastical ownership until 1545, when the estate was transferred to John Gray to strengthen alliances amid rising Protestant tensions. By the 16th century, the castle was in disrepair, and subsequent owners repaired and modified it over the centuries. In the 18th century, it was described as a bishop’s summer residence and underwent further renovations. 19th Century Developments Ownership changed frequently until Evan Charles Sutherland-Walker purchased the estate in 1872, extending the house and improving the grounds. By 1897, the castle had deteriorated significantly, prompting industrialist Andrew Carnegie to lease it for a year, later purchasing it in 1898 for £85,000. Carnegie invested over £2 million in renovations, expanding the castle from 16,000 square feet to over 60,000 square feet, creating Loch Ospisdale, an indoor swimming pavilion, and a golf course, and installing full electrical services via a private power station. Architectural and Landscape Enhancements Carnegie employed Alexander Ross of Inverness and architects Ross & Macbeth to rebuild and modernize the castle between 1900 and 1905, incorporating Scottish Baronial features. The terraced gardens were designed by Thomas Mawson in 1904, and the estate included glasshouses, a dairy, lodges, and other structures. The surrounding parklands and designed landscape were expanded and carefully maintained, providing scenic views of the Dornoch Firth and Ross-shire hills. 20th Century to Present Skibo remained with the Carnegie family until 1982, after which it was purchased by businessman Peter de Savary and transformed into The Carnegie Club, a private members-only residential club. Today, the estate offers luxury accommodations, a private golf course, and recreational activities, continuing to attract high-profile guests and maintaining its status as one of the most exclusive clubs in the world. The castle was later acquired by Ellis Short, who invested in further restoration and modernization. Significance Skibo Castle is notable for its long ecclesiastical history, architectural evolution, and transformation into a luxurious private estate. Its designed landscape, historic gardens, and extensive estate buildings contribute to its cultural and historical importance in the Scottish Highlands. The castle has also hosted prominent figures, including celebrities and political leaders, cementing its reputation as a prestigious and historically rich property.

Duntulm Castle is a ruined castle near the village of Duntulm. on the north coast of the Isle of Skye in Scotland. The last masonry wall fell in 1980 during a storm. The vaulted basements are intact. The ruins of the castle are in poor condition. The main structure of the castle was built in the 14th and 15th centuries. A tower was added in the 17th century. The castle was abandoned in the early 1730s Legends According to local legend, the infant son of one of the chieftains fell from a window and was dashed on the rocks below. As a punishment, the nursemaid who was supposed to be supervising the child was set adrift on the North Atlantic in a small boat. Her ghost is said to haunt the castle.

Ardvreck Castle ruins can be reached by driving along the A837 which follows the north shore of Loch Assynt from the village of Inchnadamph Ardvreck Castle is built on a rocky promontory on Loch Assynt in Sutherland, North West Highlands of Scotland. Ardvreck Castle was originally a large structure and it is believed to have had a walled garden and formal courtyard. The remains of the foundations can still be seen and cover a large area. The central keep was rectangular and three storeys tall. There was a vaulted basement under the castle. The castle is now in ruins - all that remains is a tower and part of a defensive wall. The castle is thought to have been built around 1590 by the Clan MacLeod family. During the time of the Covenanters, James Graham, the Marquis of Montrose, was captured and held at Ardvreck Castle before being transported to Edinburgh for trial and execution. Montrose was a Royalist, fighting on the side of Charles I against the Covenanters. After being defeated at the Battle of Carbondale, Montrose fled to Ardvreck, but was trapped in the castle dungeon by the MacLeods who sent for the Covenanter troops. Ardvreck Castle on the Shore of Loch Assynt. Taken looking NW with Quinag in the background

Tulloch Castle at Dingwall near Inverness in the Highland region is a medieval castle of sixteenth-century origin that has been operated as a hotel for several decades, offering accommodation and dining within a historic building associated with the Clan Davidson and later the MacKenzie family. The castle's long gallery, great hall and various period rooms provide atmospheric accommodation in a building that retains considerable historical character. Dingwall is the county town of Ross-shire and the administrative centre of the Easter Ross district, with a long history as a market and judicial centre for the fertile agricultural lands of the Cromarty Firth. The surrounding Easter Ross landscape, with the spa town of Strathpeffer, the Black Isle and the dramatic mountain scenery of the northwest Highlands visible from the higher ground, provides an exceptionally varied natural and heritage environment.

Castle Leod is a historic tower house and fortified residence located near the village of Strathpeffer in Ross-shire, in the Scottish Highlands. It stands as the ancestral seat of the Earls of Cromartie and the clan seat of Clan Mackenzie, one of the most powerful Highland clans in Scottish history. The castle is a lived-in family home, meaning it is not a ruin or a museum piece but a genuine historic residence that has been continuously occupied for centuries. This combination of authenticity, architectural integrity, and deep clan heritage makes it one of the more compelling private castles in the northern Highlands, particularly appealing to those with Mackenzie ancestry or a serious interest in Scottish clan history. The grounds are also celebrated for containing some of the finest and oldest specimen trees in Scotland, lending the estate a grandeur that extends well beyond the castle walls themselves. The origins of Castle Leod stretch back to the sixteenth century, when it was built around 1616 by Sir Rorie Mòr Mackenzie, though the site itself and earlier structures on it have connections to the Mackenzies that predate the present building. The Mackenzies of Cromartie rose to considerable power and influence through the seventeenth century, supporting the royalist cause during the civil wars and eventually being elevated to the Earldom of Cromartie in 1703. The first Earl of Cromartie, Sir George Mackenzie, was a notable figure in late seventeenth-century Scottish politics. The earldom was forfeited following the Jacobite Rising of 1745, when the third Earl joined the cause of Bonnie Prince Charlie and was captured after the Battle of Culloden. He was sentenced to death for treason but was ultimately reprieved, reportedly after his wife made a dramatic personal appeal to King George II, one of the more poignant stories in the castle's history. The earldom and estates were eventually restored in the nineteenth century and have remained in the family ever since, now held by the Mackenzie family under the current Earl of Cromartie. Physically, Castle Leod presents the characteristic appearance of a Scottish Z-plan tower house, with a main rectangular tower augmented by flanking towers set at opposing corners to allow defensive fire along each face of the walls. The stonework is solid and imposing, built from local rubble masonry that has weathered to a pleasing pale grey, softened over the centuries by lichen and moss at its base. The castle rises several storeys, with corbelled turrets and crow-stepped gables adding the distinctly Scottish architectural detailing that gives Highland tower houses their romantic silhouette. Visitors approaching the castle through the estate grounds encounter it framed by enormous trees, which soften its martial character and give it a setting of considerable natural beauty. The atmosphere around the building is calm and unexpectedly intimate for a fortified structure; the sounds of wind through the old trees and birdsong tend to dominate, giving the place a reflective and quietly majestic quality. The grounds of Castle Leod are particularly celebrated among arborists and tree enthusiasts. The estate contains a number of champion trees of extraordinary age and size, including a giant European larch thought to be among the largest in Britain, a remarkable sweet chestnut of great antiquity, and other veteran specimens that make the parkland a destination in its own right. These trees were largely planted during the improvement era of the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries, though some may be considerably older. Walking among them gives a powerful sense of living continuity, with individual trees that have stood through centuries of the castle's history, from the Jacobite era through to the present day. The parkland setting around the castle, with its open grassy areas beneath a canopy of enormous deciduous trees, is particularly beautiful in late spring and autumn. The surrounding landscape is quintessentially Highland, sitting in the broad and sheltered valley of Strathpeffer, which lies just a few kilometres west of Dingwall in Easter Ross. Strathpeffer itself is a Victorian spa town of considerable charm, its streets lined with distinctive Victorian and Edwardian architecture that grew up around the town's celebrated sulphurous springs in the nineteenth century. The area is well served by scenic Highland roads and is within relatively easy reach of Inverness, which lies roughly twenty-five kilometres to the east. The wider landscape of Ross-shire offers mountains, lochs, and coastline in close proximity, making Castle Leod a natural stopping point on a broader Highland itinerary. The Cromarty Firth is visible from higher ground nearby, and the mountains of the northwest Highlands form a dramatic backdrop to the west. Castle Leod opens to the public on a limited basis, typically for specific clan gatherings, Highland games events, and occasional open days rather than as a daily visitor attraction. The Clan Mackenzie Society organises events at the castle periodically, and the Strathpeffer Highland Games, one of the oldest Highland gatherings in Scotland, has historic associations with the estate and the surrounding area. Visitors planning specifically to see the castle grounds are advised to check ahead for scheduled open days, as access is understandably restricted given that it remains a private family home. The postcode IV14 9AA covers the broader Strathpeffer area and the approach to the castle. The best times to visit, if access coincides, are late spring through early autumn when the grounds are at their most spectacular and the tree canopy is full. Independent travellers can reach the area most easily by car, with Inverness Airport providing the nearest air connection and rail access available to Dingwall. One of the more unusual distinctions of Castle Leod is its association with the tradition of the Brahan Seer, the legendary Scottish prophet Coinneach Odhar, who is said to have made prophecies connected to the Mackenzies of Seaforth in the seventeenth century. While the Brahan Seer's legends are associated more directly with the Seaforth branch of the Mackenzies than with Castle Leod itself, the broader Mackenzie world in which these stories circulate gives the castle an atmospheric connection to one of the most colourful traditions of Highland prophecy and folklore. The castle's combination of surviving architectural fabric, living family ownership, extraordinary trees, and layered clan history makes it genuinely unusual even among Scotland's many historic houses and tower houses, and for those fortunate enough to visit during an open period, it offers an encounter with Highland history that feels neither staged nor museumified but authentically alive.

Ackergill Tower (also known as Ackergill Castle) is located in Wick, Caithness. The castle was originally a five storey tower house. It has now been converted to a luxury hotel and business venue. There are 25 bedrooms, with 17 in the Castle, the rest in the Keepers, Old Laundry, Garden House and Smiddy. The castle was originally built in the 15th century by clan Keith. In 1547, the Sinclairs of Sinclair & Girnigoe Castle attacked and captured the castle. Mary the Regent (wife of James V) returned Ackergill Tower to the Keiths, and appointed Lord Oliphant as keeper of Ackergill. The Sinclairs again captured the castle in 1556. Ackergill was recaptured by the Keiths in the late 1590s. The Sinclairs bought the castle in 1612 before surrendering it to Sir Robert Gordon in 1623. Oliver Cromwell may have used Ackergill Castle in 1651 as a barracks. Ackergill was bought by Sir William Dunbar in 1699. The Dunbars extensively renovated the castle began extensive renovations, including an extension to the tower. It remained in the Dunbars family until 1986, when it was sold and converted to a hotel and business venue.

Kinloch Castle on the Isle of Rùm in the Inner Hebrides is a remarkable Edwardian hunting lodge built between 1897 and 1902 for Sir George Bullough, a wealthy Lancashire textile magnate, and represents one of the most extraordinary examples of Edwardian excess in Scotland. The castle was constructed with no expense spared using red sandstone shipped from Arran, and its interior contained electric lighting, air conditioning, an orchestrion mechanical organ and baths with Jacuzzi-type systems years before such technology was common. The island of Rùm is now a National Nature Reserve managed by NatureScot, with the castle maintained within the reserve. The island is accessible by ferry from Mallaig and is a remote and rewarding destination for wildlife watching, with golden eagles, red deer and the remnant native ponies among the wildlife highlights.

Glenborrodale Castle on the southern shore of Loch Sunart on the Ardnamurchan peninsula in Highland region is a late Victorian Scottish Baronial country house built for Jesse Boot, founder of Boots the Chemist, as a Highland retreat at the peak of his commercial success. The turreted castle overlooks the sea loch in an outstandingly beautiful setting in one of the most remote peninsulas in the Scottish Highlands. Ardnamurchan extends furthest west of any point on the British mainland, and its combination of rugged coastal scenery, ancient volcanic landscape, abundant wildlife and genuine remoteness makes it one of the most rewarding destinations in Scotland for those seeking Highland character. The Loch Sunart Nature Reserve on the castle's south shore is one of the finest Atlantic oakwood habitats in Scotland.

Mansfield Castle Hotel is a grand Victorian baronial hotel situated in the town of Tain, in Easter Ross in the Scottish Highlands. Perched on a gentle rise with commanding views over the Dornoch Firth, it operates today as a country house hotel offering accommodation and hospitality to visitors exploring this beautiful and historically rich corner of northern Scotland. The hotel occupies a substantial turreted castle-style mansion that is typical of the confident architectural ambitions of the Victorian era in Scotland, when wealthy industrialists and landowners commissioned homes that blended romance with grandeur. It is notable both as a place to stay and as a landmark in its own right, drawing guests who appreciate historic buildings, peaceful Highland surroundings and easy access to some of Scotland's finest whisky country. The building dates from the latter part of the nineteenth century and was constructed as a private residence in the Scottish Baronial style, a form of architecture that deliberately evoked the imagery of medieval Scottish castles through the use of towers, turrets, crow-stepped gables and ornate stonework. This style was enormously fashionable in Victorian Scotland following the influence of Balmoral Castle and the romantic vision of the Highlands that Prince Albert and Queen Victoria helped popularise. The mansion was eventually converted into a hotel, preserving much of its original interior character including fine plasterwork, period staircases and grand reception rooms. The surrounding grounds, which include lawns and mature trees, further add to the sense of a historic estate frozen gracefully in time. Physically, the hotel presents a striking silhouette on arrival, its pale stone walls and dark slate roofs rising above the treeline with an air of dignified solidity. Turrets and corbelled details give the building its distinctly Scottish character, and arriving guests are met with the impression of stepping into a Victorian Highland estate rather than a conventional hotel. Inside, the atmosphere is warm and characterful, with rooms that retain a sense of period elegance while offering modern comforts. The public spaces, whether the dining room or the lounges, carry that particular quality of light found in northern Scotland — long and golden in summer, atmospheric and low-angled in autumn and winter. Tain itself is one of Scotland's oldest royal burghs, with a history stretching back over a thousand years, and the town offers considerable interest to visitors beyond the hotel. The Tain Through Time museum explores the remarkable local heritage, including the story of Saint Duthac, a revered Celtic saint born in Tain around 1000 AD, whose shrine became one of the most important pilgrimage sites in medieval Scotland. King James IV of Scotland was famously a regular pilgrim to Tain. The Glenmorangie Distillery, one of Scotland's most celebrated whisky producers and famous worldwide for its elegant single malt, is located on the very edge of Tain and is an absolute must for any visitor with even a passing interest in Scotch whisky. The landscape surrounding Mansfield Castle Hotel is quintessentially Highland in character. The Dornoch Firth stretches to the south, a broad and beautiful tidal estuary renowned for its wildlife including bottlenose dolphins, seals and wading birds. The fertile farmland of Easter Ross rolls away in every direction, a landscape quite different from the rugged mountains of the central Highlands — gentler, greener and more agricultural, though the hills are never far from view. The wider region encompasses the Black Isle to the south and the remote flow country of Sutherland to the north, making the area an excellent base for exploring an enormous range of Highland landscapes and heritage sites. In terms of practical visiting, Tain is accessible by road via the A9, the main arterial route running up the east coast of Scotland from Inverness toward Caithness. Inverness, the nearest city, lies roughly 35 miles to the south and has both an airport and a railway station with regular services. Tain itself has a railway station on the Far North Line, which runs from Inverness to Wick and Thurso, meaning that visitors without a car can reach the town by train directly, though a short taxi or walk would be needed to reach the hotel from the station. The Far North Line is one of Scotland's great scenic rail journeys in its own right. The hotel is open to non-resident guests for dining as well as accommodation, and the surrounding area rewards visits in all seasons — summer for long daylight hours and wildlife activity, autumn for dramatic golden light and whisky harvest atmosphere, and even winter for dramatic skies and the genuine quiet of the deep Highland off-season.

Armadale Castle is a ruined country house in Armadale, Isle of Skye. The building was built as a baronial style mock-castle in 1815, and was abandoned in 1925 and has since fallen into ruin. The estate was purchased by the Clan Donald Lands Trust in 1971.The Trust has restored the gardens and part of the Castle, created a museum and built holiday accommodation and established a visitor centre. The original building was a mansion house built in 1790 by the first Lord Macdonald. Part of this original mansion can still be seen as the white section of the building in the photos. In 1815 the building was extended to form Armadale Castle. In 1855 fire destroyed much of the original house. In 1925 the Macdonald family moved to a smaller house a few miles away, leaving the castle to fall into disrepair.

Foulis Castle is situated about 1.5 miles southwest of the village of Evanton and 4 miles north east of Dingwall in the Highland area of northern Scotland. The castle has been the seat of the Clan Munro for over eight hundred years. It is open by appointment only as it is a private residence. The present Castle dates from the middle of 18th century. The formal Georgian front features a fine double entrance stairway. The previous 16th century castle was destroyed by fire after the 1745 Jacobite uprising. Chief Sir Harry Munro rebuilt the castle incorporating the remains of the old defensive keep from the original castle. Since the Battle of Culloden had brought an end to the Highland clan system there was no need for such a defensive fort anymore. Foulis was rebuilt as a large Georgian mansion house. The semi-octagonal tower was built in 1754. The 18th century domestic buildings, coachhouses, laundry, bakehouse, stables and well, shows a strong continental influence.

Mingary Castle on the Ardnamurchan peninsula is a thirteenth-century coastal castle built for the Clan MacIain MacDonald, whose fortress controlled the Sound of Mull and the Ardnamurchan peninsula from a dramatically situated clifftop above the sea. The castle has been substantially restored in the twenty-first century and now operates as a luxury accommodation and events venue within the ancient walls, combining medieval heritage with high-quality hospitality in one of the most remote settings of any castle in Scotland. The Ardnamurchan peninsula is the most westerly point of the British mainland, and the combination of the restored castle, the dramatic coastal scenery and the exceptional wildlife of the peninsula including golden eagles, otters and marine mammals makes Mingary a destination of genuine distinction in the Scottish Highlands.

Moniack Castle near Beauly in the Highland region is a sixteenth-century Fraser family tower house now celebrated as the home of Moniack Mhor, Scotland's Creative Writing Centre, which offers residential writing courses and retreats in an atmospheric historic building. The castle has been operated as a winery producing elderflower, sloe and various country wines and liqueurs for many decades, and the combination of historic building, creative writing retreat and country wine production gives Moniack a distinctive and slightly eccentric character. The surrounding landscape of the Beauly Firth and the Black Isle is one of the most attractive in the eastern Highlands, and the nearby town of Beauly with its ruined Valliscaulian priory provides additional historical interest in this quietly scenic part of Inverness-shire.